Should You Get a Home Warranty?

You’ve probably seen advertisements at some point or another about purchasing a home warranty. How do home warranties differ from homeowner’s insurance? Do you really need both? The questions can be endless—which is why the Corpus Christi movers want to help you maximize your spending and get the coverage that is appropriate for your home and your belongings. Read on to learn more about home warranty plans and what works best for you.

A home warranty, at its core, is like a service agreement more than an insurance policy. Understanding your particular home warranty plan is crucial to ensuring that there aren’t any surprises when it comes time to use some of the services that are covered under the home warranty’s umbrella. Each state has a varied law that mandates what kind of coverage home warranty plans provide. Many states require builders to provide the homeowner with a home warranty for their new construction home.

New home warranties cover workmanship, materials, and labor on a home’s systems and appliances. These may include, but are not limited to, the HVAC, the electrical system, plumbing, and windows. Some things usually not covered include cracks in the drywall, cement, brick or tile. Also, there is not a coverage portion for accommodations expenses if you are displaced from your home.

How long does a home warranty last? On a new home, a warranty can last up to ten years, but certain aspects of the home may have coverage periods that are much shorter. Drywall, for example, may be covered for only a few years, while major structural elements could have coverage for seven or more years.

One pointer worth noting is that there can be extensive loopholes with home warranty plans. Home warranties often specify how repairs will be made and who will make them. But one of the typical roadblocks to getting the work done can be the builder's or warranty company's counter-claim that an issue is the result of improper or neglected maintenance on the part of the homeowner and therefore exempt from coverage. To prevent this, be sure to keep thorough records of damages as they occur and progressively get more intense over time for evidentiary support.

If something goes wrong with your new home, be sure to pursue the issue withboththe builder and the home warranty company. Contacting the builder doesn't mean they're bringing the warranty company into the loop, and without doing that yourself, you can end up gamed out of the coverage you deserve thanks to a builder's stall tactics.Note coverage deadlines, and also pay attention to the "performance standard" section of the document, which lists common problems and describes to what extent the builder is responsible to correct them.

So, the question remains: should you get a home warranty? Depending on your needs, and the age of your home, it might be a worthy investment to help protect some of the parts that may fail in the coming years.